


Independence Day

by visionshadows



Series: Her Journey Bright and Pure [25]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, F/M, Gay Rights, Gender Dysphoria, It's totally not, This was supposed to be the last part, Transgender, Transgender Rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 03:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/visionshadows/pseuds/visionshadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sidney Crosby comes out - to everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Independence Day

From SI.com, December 8th 2020

**Sidney Crosby Comes Out as Transgender**

The name Sidney Crosby is as familiar to hockey fans as Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, and Mario Lemieux. From the age of 18 to 32, Crosby played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and was hailed as the greatest player of his generation.

Crosby along with his husband, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, were the first NHL players to marry another man in 2017. Together, he and Malkin have raised the profile of gay athletes and worked hard to change the culture of sports in regards to gay players even while Malkin himself has been refused entry back into Russia and stripped of his Russian citizenship because of his marriage. He is still in the process of gaining full Canadian citizenship.

At the end of the 2020 season, Crosby unexpectedly retired early, paying Pittsburgh for the final five years of his contract and disappeared to Canada with Malkin. 

Crosby has not been to a single Penguins game and has not been seen in Pittsburgh at all. Malkin, when asked, said that Sidney was home in Cole Harbour and that was all he was going to discuss. Rumours of a break up occurred. 

Last Thursday at the Penguins home game against the Winnipeg Jets, an unknown woman was sitting with Mario Lemieux in the owner’s box and left with Malkin. No one in the Penguins organization would comment when asked and Malkin’s agent refused to talk to the media.

This woman was Sidney Crosby. 

Crosby doesn’t look entirely female yet. Her hair has grown past her shoulders and she wears it down most of the time. Her features have softened slightly from hormone treatments and she has surgery scheduled in January for breast enhancement. Neither Crosby or Malkin will answer questions about gender surgery, believing that is no one else’s business but their own.

Crosby, Malkin, Lemieux, and Crosby’s sister Taylor and her husband Ryan Storgaard of the Toronto Maple Leafs invited SI.com to Crosby and Malkin’s Pittsburgh home to give an interview regarding Crosby’s change in gender. 

It was Malkin, ironically, who ended up doing a lot of the talking. In careful English, he explained that Sidney has been female her entire life but only started transitioning in May. She had every intention of fulfilling her contract through the 2025 season but was unable to wait any longer. Mentally the daily struggle to maintain her image as Sidney Crosby was taking too much of a toll and after a long discussion with Lemieux, who has known of Crosby’s true gender since 2012, decided to take early retirement.

“I still love hockey,” Sidney said, her hand wrapped around Malkin’s. “I know I can never play professionally again, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop playing hockey. I just couldn’t hide who I am any longer.”

“There was a period of time right after the Sochi Olympics where Sidney considered retiring,” Taylor added. “She had broken her leg in March and she couldn’t skate for months. Her last serious injury, when she was out with the long-term concussion and neck injury, was when she told myself and Geno that she was a woman. This injury made her question her dedication to hockey.”

“She change her mind. Wanted one more Olympics,” Malkin said with a sad smile. “One more Cup.”

“I got both. Geno only got one.”

The undercurrent of what Malkin lost by marrying Crosby was palpable in the room. There were pats to his shoulder from Lemieux and Storgaard and a hug from Taylor. Crosby just kept her hand tightly wrapped around Malkin’s, bringing it to her lips to kiss his knuckles.

The moment was broken up when Crosby and Malkin’s dog, a Newfoundland named Bear, came bounding into the room, having broken down the gate that was keeping him in the kitchen. Crosby sighed heavily and got up to take Bear outside. Crosby leaving during conversations about her gender was apparently normal and everyone took it in stride.

“She left right after she told me too,” Lemieux said with a laugh. “Geno ended up doing most of the explaining.”

“She fall asleep after she tell me. Sidney find it hard to talk about. Is easier for me to be the one doing the explanations.”

Malkin went on to explain that Crosby had told him of her true gender before they began dating and that he suspected it months earlier. He spent time over the summer of 2011 reading books about Gender Dysphoria and trying to get himself ready to help Sidney whether they ending up dating or not. 

While they gave the appearance of being a gay couple for years and championed gay causes, Malkin has never considered her anything other than his girlfriend and eventually wife. Crosby had felt like her body was wrong her entire life and Malkin accepted that, only referring to Crosby as male in public. In private, she wore makeup and womens clothing. It was a routine of theirs to paint her fingernails when they would come home from games. 

“Sidney has more nail polish than anyone I know,” Taylor said with a laugh. “She always wore it on her toes unless she was wearing sandals in public. And she was so bad at applying makeup at first. I taught Geno and he did her makeup for the longest time.”

Geno shrugged, completely unashamed. “It made her happy. She does it herself now. I still paint nails though.”

Malkin cautioned that while Crosby enjoyed wearing makeup and womens clothing, it wasn’t enough. It never changed how she felt on the inside. It just made her more comfortable in her own skin. The decision to transition was made back in 2013 and along with Crosby and Malkin’s long-term therapist Pamela Morris, who was not present, their chosen family has worked towards that goal while supporting LGBTQ causes as much as possible.

“This not change our support for gay athletes and gay causes,” Malkin explained. “Just now we can focus more on transgender causes instead of lumping all together.”

When Crosby came back, she had a photo album in her hand. It was revealed to be a wedding album, but not one that the public has ever seen. Images of Malkin and Crosby’s wedding are widespread and the picture of both Malkin and Crosby laughing in tuxedos and holding each other hands in front of the minister is a classic. 

This photo album was of their true wedding. Only a small group of people were there and Storgaard’s father, a minister back in Denmark, had performed the ceremony. The guests were familiar faces - Malkin’s family, Taylor and Ryan, the Lemieux family, the Fleurys and Gonchars, Jonathan Toews, Maxime Talbot, and oddly enough Danny Briere and rival Claude Giroux who have since come out as a couple. Notably absent are Crosby’s parents. 

Crosby was wearing a wedding gown, dressed like a fairytale bride, and Malkin was beaming at her in every photo. This was before any hormones or surgery, Crosby explained. Everything was an illusion to create an appearance of femininity. 

“When she’s ready, we take another picture,” Malkin said. “Gather up everyone and take photo of Sidney in her gown. No illusion this time.”

I asked if Crosby’s parents would be in any of those photos. Taylor, instead of Sidney, answered with a negative. 

“Mom and Dad have a hard time accepting Sidney. At the time of the wedding, they didn’t know that Sidney was female so they weren’t invited.”

“I told them about three months after Geno and I got married,” Crosby said quietly. “It didn’t go well and we didn’t speak until the 2018 Olympics when Taylor won gold. We had to present a united front and we’re all good at keeping up appearances. I hate that her gold medal is tarnished by what our family was going through.”

“It’s not tarnished,” Taylor said firmly, apparently not for the first time. “I had everyone there cheering me on and I won gold. Nothing can tarnish that, Sidney.”

Crosby didn’t look convinced but also didn’t push the matter. The subject was carefully guided away from Crosby’s parents by Lemieux who explained that Crosby would continue to work with the Penguins for the upcoming draft. She was going to join the Lemieux ownership group and according to Taylor, she will be an aunt in April. 

“Geno has another season left on his contract and he’s probably not going to look for a new one,” Crosby explained. “After that, we don’t know what we’re going to do. Relax maybe?”

Malkin laughed at that and shook his head. “You not know how to relax.”

“I can learn!” Crosby was indignant at that, pushing Malkin lightly. 

That led to a debate on whether Crosby would ever learn to relax that went on for some time with Crosby pointing out that she had hobbies and Mario was just as bad as she was. It was a light-hearted moment in what was a serious conversation. 

We eventually got back to the topic of acceptance which Crosby knew was going to be a problem. 

“It’s not because I’m a sports figure. I expect backlash because of that. I expect people to bring up all of the names I’ve been called over the years and laugh about how they were right. The reason I know that acceptance is going to be a problem is because transgender people are still viewed as being wrong and unnatural. The stigma associated with being transgender is real. I’ve spent years listening to it while keeping my mouth shut. I’m done doing that now. 

“There is nothing wrong with me. I have as much right as anyone else to be myself and express who I am. I have a wonderful husband and family. I love hockey and video games and history. I still can’t make solyanka taste right but Geno eats it anyway. I go to the grocery store, walk the dog, do everything that anyone else does. The only difference is that I identify with a different gender than my chromosomes say I am. 

“I am a woman,” Crosby said firmly. “And that is not going to change.”

 

Sidney hid her face in her hand, peeking between her fingers as Geno read the article to her. She could see the pictures that they had taken as well as the two from their weddings. There were so few pictures of her as a woman that it was still a novelty to see her with her hand on Bear’s collar, leaning over and laughing with Geno. 

“It’s a good article,” Geno said calmly, pulling her hand away from her face. “No judgement, just fact using our words.”

“I know,” Sidney said, wrinkling her nose. “Just don’t read the comments.”

“Already get three texts from Sanja asking why he wasn’t invited to the real wedding and now he had better be invited to the next one.” Geno put down the pad reader and stretched out next to Sidney on the bed. “I don’t think he mad that we didn’t tell him. I’m sure he’ll call either way.”

“I turned off my phone,” Sidney admitted. “Anyone who needs me knows to call you.”

Geno cupped her cheek, smiling down at her. “You okay?”

Sidney nodded, giving him a smile in return. “It’s finally out there. I’m done hiding.”

“Now everyone know my Sidney,” Geno leaned over to kiss her gently. “My beautiful girl.”

**Author's Note:**

> So ... this was supposed to be the very last part I posted. It's been written since July 4th (hence the title). It's not the last part. Not even close. So I figured I would let it out now instead of waiting some unknown period of time until I decide I'm finally done writing in this 'verse. Mostly because I keep referring to this part in other parts and you know, that's annoying. *g*


End file.
